The clinic I work at just moved to three year vaccine schedules last year, HOWEVER, many of the vets won't do it automatically. If it is written down on the chart "DHPPL 1 yr", for example, they'll just do it again unless it's an old dog. (and one vet never writes down three year vaccinations, ever). I'm probably really annoying to them, as I'm constantly asking 'want to make that a three year?", lol.

Ugh gotta love the look the vet tech just gave me when I argued vaccines with her and told her I do limited vaccines and that I don't put flea/tick meds on my dogs. She looked at me like I just told her I kick puppies. Oy vey. She told me that my dog's chances of getting sick are higher and that the only effective flea/tick treatment are topical flea and tick medication. Umm no. I use food grade DE on my dogs and have never had issues with fleas or ticks.

Also not happy that they just took my dog in the back to do her bloodwork. I'm not sure why they can't pull blood with me in the room? I can hear her in the back crying anytime they try to do something and I'm not happy about it.

That sucks, I hate that vets can be such bullies, even if they are good intentioned.

When I took Siri in for her first exam they brought up spaying and I told them I wasn't planning on spaying her until she was an adult. They didn't lecture me or anything, but I could tell they would have liked it if I had said OH YEAH, let's set that up right now!!!
She just kinda said, okay, but just so you know mammary cancer is more prevalent in spayed dogs (and gave me stats), and we want to make sure she doesn't get overweight because that will make spaying more difficult. Erm, yeah....I own a trim corgi. Does that not mean anything to you?!?!

I really dislike looking for vets. Really, really, really. I tend to avoid it. I have one in mind but I still hesitate since the move, I've been burned too many times.

Ugh yeah. We didn't have a vet when my bunny all of a sudden needed to go to the vet NOW. We took the nearest one because we didn't really have a choice. And while the office was nice, and the Vet techs were awesome the vet who took care of him (there were two vets... we go the not so nice one) was kind of rude, and made me feel like a horrible person who steps on little bunnies.
My bunny had kidney stones. We've had hime for a grand total of 2.5 months. His old owner fed him horrible food. We changed up his food and he's eating EXTREMLY healthy. My vet gave me a huge lecture on what not to feed and what to feed bunnies and was only like uhuh sure you do, when I told what he eats. Made me feel like a real bum. Needless to say, we are not going back there.

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That sucks, I hate that vets can be such bullies, even if they are good intentioned.

When I took Siri in for her first exam they brought up spaying and I told them I wasn't planning on spaying her until she was an adult. They didn't lecture me or anything, but I could tell they would have liked it if I had said OH YEAH, let's set that up right now!!!
She just kinda said, okay, but just so you know mammary cancer is more prevalent in spayed dogs (and gave me stats), and we want to make sure she doesn't get overweight because that will make spaying more difficult. Erm, yeah....I own a trim corgi. Does that not mean anything to you?!?!

Even at Lake Harriet? I would have thought they would be more open to leaving dogs intact.

Also not happy that they just took my dog in the back to do her bloodwork. I'm not sure why they can't pull blood with me in the room? I can hear her in the back crying anytime they try to do something and I'm not happy about it.

We've just started doing this at my clinic, for multiple reasons.

1.) We're able to get the bloodwork results first thing so the client isn't waiting around after the appointment is over for the results.

2.) Some owners don't like to see their dog's blood drawn, especially if we have an issue with the dog bleeding afterwards/having to poke multiple times due to wonky veins.

3.) Some dogs need more restraint than a simple hug to be safe for a blood draw. Although we are in NO way mean to the dogs, we are much more liberal with what we do when we are away from the owner. Most owners become upset with what they view as "unneeded" restraint, especially if their dog is screaming/growling/biting and clearly unhappy with said restraint/procedure. We have to keep everyone - and that includes the dog - safe, and a thrashing dog that we need to poke with a needle and draw blood is not safe. So while we feel comfortable muzzling and holding down a dog (at times needing multiple people) away from the owner, it would probably upset the owner if they saw us do so in the room.

If you are a new client, we don't want to chance 2 or 3 happening, so we remove the dog from the room and draw blood in the back. If you are a frequent client, we know your preferences/dog's attitude, and we tailor our approach to suit the client/patient (and we have quite a few dogs that MUST have their owners either muzzle them or restrain them for us, or the dog would probably have to be sedated to get anything done).

Just giving you a tech's perspective.

Mini Vent: this especially bothers me with nail trimming. I wish people understood that the time to desensitize your dog is NOT when you expect the staff to have the procedure completely done in 10 minutes! We had a Boxer come in for a nail trim who had never experienced it before. He was okay for the first foot with our cooing and treats and pets, and if it was a training experience we would have stopped then, showered him with the treats we were dolling out, and helped him on his road to thinking nail trims are awesome. As it was, we had to do ALL the feet (that is what the client is paying for) and by the end of it the dog was being restrained by three people and on the floor because after that first foot and a half we passed his threshold and he just couldn't take it anymore and started flailing/trying to bite. It turned into an ordeal, the dog was extremely stressed out, and he will probably have to be muzzled/restrained excessively for any future nail trimming ventures. Ugh.

This is one reason I love my vet - he knows I'm not weird about stuff like that. When my cat needed a urine sample, the tech went to take him back and my vet goes, "Emily doesn't care, she gives her own vaccines and works in a kennel, just do it here." LOL Too true, Dr. G. Of course, my idiot cat just chills out, happy to be touched, even if he is pinned on his side with a needle in his bladder.

I let them take Blossom in the back for blood work because I wanted her to "practice" having strangers handle her without me for her spay. I sent the tech back with a handful of liver cubes and treats, and said, "If she does anything weird, just stuff her full of these." I also told them I wasn't offended by muzzles, so they should do whatever they needed to.

But it is very true that many clients don't realize the level of restraint that may be needed for some procedures. I appreciate that my vet can recognize I'm not one of those people, though.

Is this a new vet clinic? Sounds like it's a really poor fit. If you'd like to stick with it, bring a copy of the AAHA recommendations on vaccines next time.

I do find that saying "I'm following the American Animal Hospital Association vaccine schedule." seems to smooth things over a bit so they know you're not just being cheap and not giving vaccines. I have no idea why they'd care about flea/tick stuff either. It's not like you're not giving heartworm prevention!

My vet clinic's tech did a little halfhearted arguing when I asked them to switch reminders to every 3 years for core vaccines, but they did it and the vet has never given me crap about it.

Sweet. Thank you for the link!!! It's the same vet clinic just a different location and different veterinarian. This was the first time we had seen this vet and while she was nice otherwise, when it came to my dog she pretty much did act like I was just being cheap and acted like I don't know what I'm talking about. Ridiculous. They have another vet there that I saw the last time I was at that clinic (when Cricket was sick) and I like him much better and will probably request him next time. He doesn't necessarily agree with my vaccination and flea/tick control choices either, but he is way less pushy about it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdrianneIsabel

I really dislike looking for vets. Really, really, really. I tend to avoid it. I have one in mind but I still hesitate since the move, I've been burned too many times.

You and me both. Frustrating part for me is it's hard to find an affordable vet out here that I actually like. There is one vet out here I love that I used to go to, but the cost was about 3X what it is anywhere else so it's one of those stuck between a rock and a hard place decisions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWCorgi

That sucks, I hate that vets can be such bullies, even if they are good intentioned.

When I took Siri in for her first exam they brought up spaying and I told them I wasn't planning on spaying her until she was an adult. They didn't lecture me or anything, but I could tell they would have liked it if I had said OH YEAH, let's set that up right now!!!
She just kinda said, okay, but just so you know mammary cancer is more prevalent in spayed dogs (and gave me stats), and we want to make sure she doesn't get overweight because that will make spaying more difficult. Erm, yeah....I own a trim corgi. Does that not mean anything to you?!?!

For a while I was unsure if I was even going to spay Cricket and that was such a sore topic for my last vet. She made it a point to print up a ton of information one time when she knew I was going to have an appointment with her and showed me all the horrors that could happen if I didn't spay her. Wtf? I did eventually end up spaying her, but now I seriously regret spaying her and wish I had never made that decision.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GipsyQueen

Ugh yeah. We didn't have a vet when my bunny all of a sudden needed to go to the vet NOW. We took the nearest one because we didn't really have a choice. And while the office was nice, and the Vet techs were awesome the vet who took care of him (there were two vets... we go the not so nice one) was kind of rude, and made me feel like a horrible person who steps on little bunnies.
My bunny had kidney stones. We've had hime for a grand total of 2.5 months. His old owner fed him horrible food. We changed up his food and he's eating EXTREMLY healthy. My vet gave me a huge lecture on what not to feed and what to feed bunnies and was only like uhuh sure you do, when I told what he eats. Made me feel like a real bum. Needless to say, we are not going back there.

God I would have been SO mad at that vet... horrible

Quote:

Originally Posted by *blackrose

We've just started doing this at my clinic, for multiple reasons.

1.) We're able to get the bloodwork results first thing so the client isn't waiting around after the appointment is over for the results.

2.) Some owners don't like to see their dog's blood drawn, especially if we have an issue with the dog bleeding afterwards/having to poke multiple times due to wonky veins.

3.) Some dogs need more restraint than a simple hug to be safe for a blood draw. Although we are in NO way mean to the dogs, we are much more liberal with what we do when we are away from the owner. Most owners become upset with what they view as "unneeded" restraint, especially if their dog is screaming/growling/biting and clearly unhappy with said restraint/procedure. We have to keep everyone - and that includes the dog - safe, and a thrashing dog that we need to poke with a needle and draw blood is not safe. So while we feel comfortable muzzling and holding down a dog (at times needing multiple people) away from the owner, it would probably upset the owner if they saw us do so in the room.

If you are a new client, we don't want to chance 2 or 3 happening, so we remove the dog from the room and draw blood in the back. If you are a frequent client, we know your preferences/dog's attitude, and we tailor our approach to suit the client/patient (and we have quite a few dogs that MUST have their owners either muzzle them or restrain them for us, or the dog would probably have to be sedated to get anything done).

Just giving you a tech's perspective.

Mini Vent: this especially bothers me with nail trimming. I wish people understood that the time to desensitize your dog is NOT when you expect the staff to have the procedure completely done in 10 minutes! We had a Boxer come in for a nail trim who had never experienced it before. He was okay for the first foot with our cooing and treats and pets, and if it was a training experience we would have stopped then, showered him with the treats we were dolling out, and helped him on his road to thinking nail trims are awesome. As it was, we had to do ALL the feet (that is what the client is paying for) and by the end of it the dog was being restrained by three people and on the floor because after that first foot and a half we passed his threshold and he just couldn't take it anymore and started flailing/trying to bite. It turned into an ordeal, the dog was extremely stressed out, and he will probably have to be muzzled/restrained excessively for any future nail trimming ventures. Ugh.

See I don't mind if they need to restrain her and honestly aside from some crying she isn't really too squirmy when she is having blood taken. I'm not afraid of a little blood and I just would prefer to be present for something like that. Next time I'm going to honestly insist that I be there and assure them that I understand they might have to use a little more restraint if she starts to get squirmy or put up a fight. As soon as they brought her back she hid between my legs and wouldn't look at them which is odd considering my crazy weird dog actually likes going to the vet usually. Next time I go I'm seriously going to request the vet that handled her when she was sick. He was much better about things and he did take her blood with me in the room.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emily

This is one reason I love my vet - he knows I'm not weird about stuff like that. When my cat needed a urine sample, the tech went to take him back and my vet goes, "Emily doesn't care, she gives her own vaccines and works in a kennel, just do it here." LOL Too true, Dr. G. Of course, my idiot cat just chills out, happy to be touched, even if he is pinned on his side with a needle in his bladder.

I let them take Blossom in the back for blood work because I wanted her to "practice" having strangers handle her without me for her spay. I sent the tech back with a handful of liver cubes and treats, and said, "If she does anything weird, just stuff her full of these." I also told them I wasn't offended by muzzles, so they should do whatever they needed to.

But it is very true that many clients don't realize the level of restraint that may be needed for some procedures. I appreciate that my vet can recognize I'm not one of those people, though.

When I used to be a barn manager I used to vaccinate the horses all the time by myself. I don't necessarily like needles, but I have plenty of experience with giving vaccines and I have drawn blood before with some assistance (on a horse). Aside from Whiskey's rabies, I vaccinated him myself since I do do puppy and kitten shots. I definitely understand the restraint sometimes needed. Heck, I bathe dogs every single day at work which includes nail trims. I do have to restrain dogs to do nail trims sometimes when the dog is not cooperating. I try to pair it with treats, PB or cheese as long as I know the dog doesn't have food allergies, but if I need to sometimes I have to have someone restrain the dog so I can get the nails done quickly. I'm just going to mention it next time because ugh... I would just much rather be present.

Unfortunately, some vets are jerks. And/or have a chip on their shoulder. And/or are resistant to change. I wonder why some of them became vets at all.

ETA: But keep in mind, too, that especially with a new vet who doesn't know you from Adam... they don't really know how educated you are. And they don't know if you're that person who is going to sue them when their dog gets mammary cancer because they didn't tell you about the risks 15 years ago. There's a balance between informed consent/education and being flexible to an owner's philosophy. And some of the stuff on the internet is just plain wrong or they may not agree with it.